Incorporated herein by reference is the material contained on the compact disc filed during the prosecution of this matter. Two duplicate compact discs have been submitted, and each contains one (1) file named 09-518,424.txt and created Nov. 1, 2002. The file is an OCR and manual reproduction of the program listing filed as part of the original application. The file size is 127 kilobytes.
This invention relates generally to computer-implemented methods for digitally recognizing a plurality of characters across an area of a digital image containing character indicia at predetermined positions in the area and also possibly containing non-character indicia in the area. The invention relates particularly to an analysis method and tool for a digitally imaged financial item, such as a check having a MICR line, and even more particularly to a check processing method and a check sorting system.
Although the present invention has broader aspects referred to above, the invention will be described in the context of handling financial items, specifically checks which have along their lower portions indicia-containing areas referred to as xe2x80x9cMICR lines.xe2x80x9d Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional check 2 has various conventional portions. These include the illustrated date, payee, numerical and alphabetical amount, memo, and signature areas. Typically other information is preprinted on the check as well (e.g., account holder identification information such as name and address, and bank name). The check 2 also includes a MICR line 4. xe2x80x9cMICRxe2x80x9d stands for Magnetic Ink Character Recognition, and the acronym is used in this specification and the claims as an adjective to designate conformance or compliance with fonts and formats used in magnetic ink character recognition technology.
With regard to MICR lines and characters used on checks in the United States, the symbol set includes numerals 0 through 9, a financial institution designation symbol 6 shown in FIG. 1, an individual account number designation symbol 8 shown in FIG. 1, an amount designation symbol 10 shown in FIG. 2, and a hyphen (not shown). On the check shown in FIG. 1, two symbols 6 define the limits of a portion 12 of the MICR line 4 within which a nine-digit financial institution identification number in MICR numerals (not shown) is preprinted on the check 2. The symbol 8 delimits to the right (as viewed in FIG. 1) a portion 14 of the MICR line 4 within which a nine-digit individual account number in MICR numerals (not shown) is preprinted on the check 2. To the right (as viewed in FIG. 1) of the symbol 8 is a portion 16 of the MICR line 4 in which the check number is preprinted in MICR format (not shown). During processing of the check subsequent to it being used by the account holder to draw on the holder""s account, the symbols 10 and a ten-digit number in MICR format are printed in portion 18 of MICR line 4 shown in FIG. 2 to indicate the amount of the check (the number shown illustrates certain MICR numeral forms, and it represents a check amount of $525.00).
During the time between when the account holder uses the check 2 and when it is returned to him or her as a canceled check with the account holder""s monthly bank statement, for example, the check may go through various check handling processes. These can be at a bank, at a Federal Reserve facility, or at a third-party check-handling facility, for example. One of these processes will be described as one context in which the present invention has utility.
In this check processing, a check sorter transports individual checks from a batch of checks at the input of the sorter to respective receptacles, referred to as pockets, at the output of the sorter. Along the way in the sorter, the MICR line is read and a digital image of the front and possibly back of the check is made. Other functions may be performed; however, the MICR line reading and the digital imaging are of particular significance to the present invention. The electrical signals generated by reading the MICR line are conducted or otherwise transmitted to a computer programmed to determine if the read MICR line is valid or invalid, and the electrical signals representing the digitized image are conducted or otherwise transmitted to a database providing a repository of digital images of the processed checks. The foregoing is known in the art.
If the programmed computer determines that the read MICR line is valid (as defined by programmed rules), it outputs control to the sorter to put the respective check in an appropriate pocket (e.g., a pocket designated for the financial institution whose identification number is in the MICR line). If the programmed computer determines that the read MICR line is not valid, it may control the sorter to send the respective check to the xe2x80x9crejectxe2x80x9d pocket. Some reasons why a MICR line might be deemed invalid include: bad print of the magnetic substance to form the MICR symbols (whether the numerals or the designators), misorientation of the check in the sorter, correction tape placed over the MICR line, sorter mishandling, ferrous or magnetic quality to signature ink or other marking made on the check in the MICR line area (e.g., random marks 22 or letters 24 impinging on MICR line 26 illustrated in FIG. 3), and the check having a reject repair strip (a reject repair strip 20 is illustrated in dot-dash lining in FIG. 2; this is adhered to the bottom of the main check body and it has similar MICR encoding to that found in the conventional MICR line 4 on the main check body, as known in the art). In either event (i.e., either a validated read or an invalidated read), the database is updated to include the digital image of the processed check and to include the valid or invalidated information about the check""s MICR line.
Valid MICR reads usually occur in the aforementioned automated process; however, even a small percentage of invalidated MICR reads can impose a significant cost. For example, one type of check sorter may process one million items (checks) each day. A reject, or invalidated MICR line read, rate of only 1.5% results in 15,000 rejected items per day for such a sorter. Presently, these rejected items are taken from the reject pocket of the sorter and manually processed by key entry personnel, who manually handle the rejected checks, read the MICR line information, and type the numerical information into the system computer(s) to provide the correct MICR line information. A highly efficient key entry person may be able to manually process five hundred rejected checks per hour; therefore, in this example, manually processing 15,000 checks per day would require thirty hours of personnel time each day if all personnel were able to handle five hundred rejects per hour. Of course with manual entry by humans, there is the possibility of data entry error. Clearly, the manual handling of invalidated MICR line items is time-consuming and expensive. Thus, there is the need for automating the processing of checks which have been deemed to have invalid MICR lines. This includes the need for automatically correcting the invalidated MICR line information in its database. A broader need is to provide for automating character recognition (and preferably correction) of character indicia of predetermined characteristic at predetermined positions as distinguished from other markings referred to as non-character indicia (which may in fact be characters, but not of the same predetermined characteristic).
The present invention meets the aforementioned needs by providing an automated analysis method and tool for a digitally imaged financial item, such as a check having a MICR line. The present invention provides a computer-implemented method for digitally recognizing a plurality of characters across an area of a digital image containing character indicia at predetermined positions in the area and also containing non-character indicia in the area. The present invention also provides a check processing method and a check sorting system. In the particular context of processing checks which have been previously read and deemed to have an invalid MICR line, the present invention results in reduced manual data entry to correct for invalidated MICR line reads, in faster posting of financial information related to processing the checks, and in reduced errors.
The present invention includes a financial item analysis method comprising digitally applying character recognition processing to an invalidated MICR line in a digital image of a financial item. If the financial item is a check, this method may further comprise processing the check through a check sorter. Such check processing includes sensing the check for a MICR line and characters therein, determining the check has an invalidated MICR line, and creating a digital image of the check. If such check processing is performed, the aforementioned xe2x80x9cdigitally applying character recognition processingxe2x80x9d may be performed after the aforementioned sensing, determining, and creating; however, the method of the present invention can also be used in making a determination about the validity or invalidity of a MICR line. The method can further include changing the digitally stored MICR line data for the financial item (e.g., check) in response to digitally applying character recognition processing to the invalidated MICR line in the digital image of the financial item.
As applied specifically to checks, the present invention can be defined as a check analysis method comprising: digitally processing a digital image of a check to search for a digital image of a MICR line of the check; and digitally changing the orientation of the digital image of the check in response to at least one failure of the digitally processing of the digital image of the check to find a digital image of the MICR line. Another definition as a check analysis method comprises: using a first MICR font template to identify MICR characters across the length of a selected area of the digital image of the check; detecting a position for a MICR character not identified by the first MICR font template relative to at least one MICR character identified by the first MICR font template; and in response to detecting a position for a MICR character not identified by the first MICR font template, using at least a second MICR font template to identify the MICR character in the detected position. The foregoing can be used with regard to financial items in general in the definition of the financial item analysis method recited above.
The present invention can also be defined as a computer-implemented method of analyzing a MICR line in a digital image, comprising: scanning the MICR line in the digital image to identify MICR characters therein; in response to identified characters, determining positions along the MICR line in the digital image where other MICR characters should be; and analyzing each determined position of the MICR line in the digital image to try to identify the respective MICR character at that position. This may further comprise digitally removing horizontal and vertical lines detected in the MICR line and not part of a possible MICR character.
Still another definition of the method of the present invention is as a computer-implemented method for digitally recognizing a plurality of characters across an area of a digital image containing character indicia at predetermined positions in the area and also containing non-character indicia in the area. This definition includes: detecting indicia in the digital image and using a first template on the detected indicia to distinguish at least some character indicia from non-character indicia across the area; in response to the predetermined positions of the character indicia and the character indicia distinguished using the first template, determining positions in the area at which other character indicia should be located but are not distinguished using the first template; and using at least a second template on indicia detected at the determined positions to try to identify character indicia thereat.
The present invention also provides a check processing method comprising: transporting a check through a check sorter; generating electrical signals in response to sensing a MICR line on a check in the check sorter; generating a digital image of the check in the check sorter; determining in a programmed computer whether the electrical signals represent a valid or an invalid MICR line; and in response to determining that the electrical signals represent an invalid MICR line, digitally processing the digital image of the check to identify MICR characters therein. This method can further comprise determining in the programmed computer whether identified MICR characters constitute a valid MICR line, and if so, digitally changing stored MICR line data for the check.
The present invention also provides a check sorting system. This system comprises: a check sorter including a MICR reader and a digital imager for checks transported by the check sorter; a controller connected to the check sorter, the controller including a MICR interpreter responsive to the MICR reader; a database connected to the check sorter to provide a repository for digital images of checks provided from the digital imager; and a digital image analyzer connected to the controller and to the database to analyze by digital processing a check digital image from the database for a check indicated by the MICR interpreter of the controller to have an invalid MICR line.
The present invention also provides analyzer tools, which may be used in the aforementioned system. One definition of such a tool is as a financial item analyzer tool which comprises: means for applying character recognition processing to an invalidated MICR line in a digital image of a financial item; and memory means for containing in digitally encoded form the means for applying such that the means for applying is accessible by a digital computer.
The tool can also be defined as a check analyzer tool comprising: a detector to detect a digital image of a MICR line in a digital image of a check; and an image orienter, responsive to the detector, to change an orientation of the digital image of the check.
The check analyzer tool can also be defined as comprising: a first MICR font template to identify MICR characters; a missing MICR character position detector responsive to the first MICR font template to detect a position of a missing MICR character relative to at least one MICR character identified by the first MICR font template; and a second MICR font template responsive to the missing MICR character position detector to identify a MICR character in a position detected by the missing MICR character position detector. This tool can further comprise a third MICR font template responsive to the second MICR font template to identify a MICR character in a position detected by the missing MICR character position detector.
Therefore, from the foregoing, it is a general object of the present invention to provide a novel and improved automated analysis method and tool for a digitally imaged financial item, such as a check having a MICR line. It is also a general object of the present invention to provide a computer-implemented method for digitally recognizing a plurality of characters across an area of a digital image containing character indicia at predetermined positions in the area and also containing non-character indicia in the area. It is also a general object of the present invention to provide a check processing method and a check sorting system. Other and further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art when the following description of the preferred embodiments is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.